Authors: Serena Vale
Chapter 5
The weeks seemed to fly by for Layla. Her days were spent acclimating to her new life as the wife of a billionaire. She was still searching for a job, despite Dominic’s protests that she would never have to work again. He had saved her house, although she had moved in with him in his palatial Boston home, paying off her debts. She was still uneasy with the thought, hating the fact that she wasn’t able to take care of herself.
But she knew that Dom liked to take care of things for her now, he took a certain pride in being able to provide the things she hadn’t been able to afford before. It would just take her some time to get used to, she thought to herself as she combed through the employment listing on several law firm’s websites.
It was so easy to remember how desperate she had been just two months ago, jobless, penniless, about to be homeless. Now, here she was, sitting in this amazing house, with a man who had turned out to be an amazing husband, without a worry in the world.
Well, almost not a worry. Layla placed a hand over her stomach, looking down unseeingly as the doubts surfaced. It had been two months, and she still wasn’t pregnant. Layla had known from the beginning what Dominic wanted, no needed, from her. Without a wife and child, he would never get his inheritance, never take over the business that had been his dream his entire life to run.
It made her worry. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been trying. That thought had hot memories stirring, and she could feel her entire body flush with heat. Oh yes, they had definitely been trying. Dominic had not said anything about it yet, but she could see the glimmer of worry in his silver eyes sometimes when he didn’t think she was looking.
And the worst of it was, she was falling for him. Hard. How could she not? He was caring, and thoughtful. Sometimes it seemed like he knew what she needed before even she did. Dominic was by far the most charming, charismatic man she had ever met, and the best lover. Not that Layla had a lot of experience, but compared to Dominic they looked like boys.
Layla stood, suddenly filled with restless energy. She needed something to do, to distract herself from the troubling thoughts. She climbed up the flight of curved stairs to the second floor where she knew Dominic’s office was. But that wasn’t the room she was looking for. Right next to the office was a large library that she had yet to explore. Surely there was something in there to keep her mind off things.
After a few wrong turns in the giant house, Layla finally stumble upon the library, with its rows and rows of floor to ceiling shelves, all jammed pack with books. She explored for a little while, and was just about to choose one that looked promising when she heard Dominic’s voice.
“…I don’t care! You never told me there was a time limit to this…” His voice trailed off again, but there was a hard edge to it that she had never heard before. She looked around, trying to find its source, and saw a connecting door that must lead to his office. Guiltily, she crept forward.
Pressing an ear to the door, she listened for his voice again. She heard it, but it was much quieter this time, and muffled by the big wooden door she was trying to eavesdrop through.
“…No! You don’t understand. We just need a little more time. You can’t sell off the company! My family’s business! You just can’t…” The words trailed off again, but Layla had heard enough to understand what he was saying, and her stomach dropped. She bent to listen again, but all she could hear was a steady stream of quickly spoken Russian, but he was speaking too fast and too quietly for her to make out what he was saying.
It didn’t matter. Her heart breaking, she turned away. Without a child, and soon, he would lose his business, his money, his family’s entire empire would be split up and sold to the highest bidder. Layla knew it would destroy him.
As she softly walked back down the stairs, Layla felt as if she had swallowed a lump of lead, sitting heavy and cold in her stomach. She knew what she had to do, but the thought was ripping her up inside. She knew she had to do this for him, would do anything for Dominic.
It had all happened so fast, but her heart wouldn’t let her lie to herself anymore. She was in love with him. He had crept inside, where she hadn’t let anyone since her mother had died, and she didn’t know how to get him out. Her resolve firmed as she neared the room they shared.
Quickly, she grabbed a suitcase and threw in whatever clothes and accessories she could grab before tears began to obscure her vision. Layla knew exactly what she had to do to save him, to care for him the way he had cared for her those blissful past few months. He needed to have a child, and quickly, and she couldn’t provide that for him.
Filled to the brim with sadness, she slowly twisted off the diamond ring he had given her that day in the courthouse, and quickly scrawling a brief note, left both on the pillow on the bed. With one last tearful look around the room that held so many wonderful memories, she grabbed the handle of the suitcase, and left.
Chapter 6
“Layla!” Dominic called down the hall. “Layla! Where are you?” Again, there was no answer, just the ever present silence that had haunted him for the past hour. He reached for his cell phone to call her again, but stopped before even dialing the number. She hadn’t picked up the last two times.
He knew it was a big house, maybe she was in the kitchen, or taking a nap and he just didn’t see her in the dark. He hurried to their bedroom, trying to still his suddenly racing heart. There is no reason to panic, he told himself. Everything is just fine. It struck him then, how much it would affect him if something was wrong, if Layla was hurt.
Quickly, he banished the thought, trying to reassure himself yet again that everything was okay. He shoved open their bedroom door and stalked in, simultaneously flicking on the lights. He took a few more steps forward, but stopped. It was clear to see that the room was empty. Where the hell could she be?
He tried to stem the flood of fear that tried to bubble to the surface again, ruthlessly shoving it down and away. He would stay calm. There was no reason to be worried. But then why did his stomach feel like it was tied in knots? Why did his breath come in short, hurried pants, like he couldn’t inhale fully?
Just as he turned to stomp back out of the room and continue his search, a glint from the bed caught his eye. He turned back, practically running to the bedside. His heart hitched painfully as he hastily grabbed for the achingly familiar diamond engagement ring. A small scrap of paper floated to the floor, disturbed by his reach, and he picked it up, furiously scanning the short message.
Dear Dom,
I can’t put into words how much you have come to mean to me. I know we haven’t known each other that long, but when I’m with you, I feel like I’m home. That’s why I have to leave. I know you don’t feel the same way about me, and that’s fine. But you have given me so much, and I want to be able to give you something in return. I left the ring, so you can find someone else, so you can have the child you need to have the future you deserve. To have the life you deserve. I hope you find someone who loves you as much as I do–
The scribbled words ended abruptly, and he could see the wet spots in the ink where here tears had fallen. His heart broke. Dominic swore loudly anyone standing in the room would have heard it.
What the hell was she thinking? His brain immediately began to panic again, this time in full force as he looked around the room and noticed for the first time that her things were gone. Her clothes, the silly scented lotion she slathered on each night before bed. It was all gone. And so was she.
Layla walked through the door of her childhood home and collapsed. Tears threatened yet again, but somehow she pushed them back. She had cried the entire hour and a half walk from Dominic’s house to here, and she felt like she should be all dried up. But the mere thought of his name sent raw pain lancing through her.
I did the right thing
, Layla tried to convince herself as she leaned back against the familiar floral print couch her mother used to sit for hours and knit on.
I did the right thing for him. But did I do the right thing for me?
She already knew the answer to that question. She lay there, feeling her heart breaking into a thousand tiny shards, each one cutting deeper than the last. She should have known better than to give her heart away, than to fall in love. It had just been so easy, Dominic had made her feel like the most important person in the world to him.
But Layla knew there was no way he could feel the same way about her, and the thought of living with him, year after year, falling ever more in love while he remained the same, affectionate but distant. It was pure torture.
A sound at the door had her ears perking up, but before she could even move up off of the couch the sound came again, like a heavy thud against the door. She was about to stand, but the door itself buckled in, the frame snapping under the pressure and she was left staring at a sweaty, red faced Dominic. And he looked furious.
“You…you could have knocked, you know.” Layla stammered out as she stood, but her stomach was dropping. She wasn’t ready to see him. To talk to him. What was there to say anyways?
Dominic stalked towards her, and the red hot glare in his normally silver blue eyes made her immediately sit back down. She had never seen him this angry before.
“What the hell were you thinking, Layla!” He spit at her as he grabbed her wrists and hauled her back to her feet to face him. “I was so worried, I couldn’t find you anywhere…” His words stalled as she was suddenly crushed to his still heaving chest, his arms like steel bands around her, squeezing her so tight she could barely breathe. It felt like heaven. “I was terrified, Layla. And then I found the ring, and that silly note you left.”
She tried to pull back at that, but he wouldn’t release her, his arms unmovable, so she spoke against his muscular chest. “That note wasn’t silly, Dominic. It broke my heart, but you need–.”
“Hush. It broke my heart too. Don’t you see?” Finally, he released her, but just enough so that she could tilt her head up to see his face, his serious expression. “I need you. I need you Layla.”
“No, you don’t, Dominic, you need…” She struggled to get the words out.
“You’re not listening to me Layla.” He shook her until she looked up at him again, meeting his fiery silver gaze. “I need you. I love you. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t even want the business if it means I have to lose you to get it. Don’t you understand,
vozlyublennaya?
I love
you.”
His words came out in a torrent so quickly it took her a moment to process what he was saying, and it took a moment longer for her to believe it, but the look in his eyes convinced her. Again she had to fight back tears, but this time they were tears of joy as she watched him get down on one knee in front of her, reach into his pocket, and then raise up his hand towards her. Her wedding ring glinted prettily in his masculine fingers, and moisture gleamed wetly from his silver gaze as well.
“Layla Banks, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She stared down at him for a long, love-filled moment, made speechless by the emotions that were choking her.
“Please,
vozlyublennaya?
”
She released her pent up breath on a choked laugh, throwing her arms around his neck. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” She wasn’t even aware of the words she was saying, all she could see was his face, breaking into a radiant smile so full of love it was impossible to look away. She grinned back at him. Now, she would never have to.
Epilogue
11 months later
“Here you go, Mr. Strokowski.” Dominic leaned forward to take the still sealed envelope from the lawyer’s hands. He turned it over, and an unexpected lump formed in his throat at the sight of his father’s familiar scrawl. It was addressed to him. His father had written just before Dominic’s parent’s death, when he had made that amendment to his will that had completely turned Dom’s life around.
He glanced up at a sound, and didn’t realize he had a goofy grin of happiness on his face as he watched his gorgeous wife cradling their two month old baby son in her loving arms. Layla must have felt his gaze on her because just then, she looked up, and their eyes collided sending sparks of love and desire shooting through him, just as it always did.
Of all the people in the entire world to crash into him that day just outside of this very office, he knew how lucky he was that it had been her. Layla. She had made his life richer in every way. His eyes were drawn back to the lawyer as he cleared his throat.
“It’s the last part of your father’s amended will. This letter, to be delivered to you two months after the birth of your child.” He reached over and briskly shook Dominic’s hand before leaving him to open the letter in privacy.
Dominic gazed down at it, running his hands over the smooth ivory vellum, the dark red wax seal that had his father’s personal monogram. With a deep breath, he cracked open the seal, and taking one last look at his beloved wife and child, pulled out the letter. His chest tightened painfully as he read his father’s words.
Son,
I know what a shock it must have been when you were told about the amendment I made to my will. I know how angry you must have been, and I hope that someday you can come to forgive an old man for hopeful thinking.
I saw the way your life was going, always working, and sacrificing everything, even your own happiness, for the sake of the business. Please believe me when I say that is not what I wanted for you.
You are so much like me, stubborn and hardworking, focused, yes, but sometimes so focused that we blind ourselves to the more important things in life. The most important thing. Love.
It never comes easy to men like us, but I hope that I helped you find the one person in the world that can truly make you happy. A business can never do that, it can never replace your family. Just remember that over the years to come. Always put your family first, and keep the woman you love close by your side, because you will need her, believe me.
Your mother saved me, and I only want the same for you. The same happiness and the same joy. I’m just sorry that I had to trick you to get it. I’m sure you know by now that you would have inherited the family estates and business regardless of whether you were married or not. I’m sorry, and again, I hope you can forgive a silly old man. I just wanted the best for you, I always have.
With all the love in my heart,
Your father
Dominic blinked rapidly to clear his eyes of the moisture that threatened at each corner. Slowly, precisely, he refolded the letter and slid it back into its envelope, his father’s words replaying over and over in his head.
Always put your family first, and keep the woman you love close by your side, because you will need her.
He glanced up at Layla, still cuddling their baby boy, who was now fast asleep in her arms. She looked up, and must have read some of the emotions swirling in him because she immediately walked over to him. He opened his arms, gesturing for her to take a seat on his lap, and she did, wiggling slightly with the baby still in her arms until she found the most comfortable spot.
“What is it, Dom?” She whispered softly, looking up at him with concern. He reached out and tucked a stray dark curl behind her ear, just staring at her.
“I was just advised that I need to keep you close.”
She arched a brow at that, but a small smile curved her full lips.
“Well, I’d say that’s pretty good advice, then.” She leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss on his cheek, and he wrapped his arms even tighter around his family. He would take his father’s advice to heart. He would keep them close, and never let them go.
“I love you, Dominic.” Layla’s sweet voice had him pulling them in even closer.
“And I love you,
vozlyublennaya.
”
THE END